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EU Youth In Action supports youth project at BRC!

Dear BRC enthusiasts,we are happy to announce that the European Commission Youth in Action program approved 12.500 EUR support to a youth project implemented at Batumi Raptor Count in 2013.

Our Birds and Biodiversity Camp is one of two youth projects at BRC in 2013 which aims to bring together young people from the Caucasus and western Europe with a passion for nature and environmental conservation. During two weeks of engaging activities including many field trips and outdoor activities the participants will learn about the rich biodiversity of the eastern Black Sea coast, and especially about the bird populations that migrate through the area. We will work together as a group to reflect on the importance of the Black Sea coast for international bird populations and from there on the responsibility of conservationists to take action across countries in a coordinated fashion. We will go out and explore the means that are available to conservationists to implement activities, study how Batumi Raptor Count works through community-based approaches to conservation. Finally, every participant will be able to explore further particular avenues of direct interest to him/her by teaming up in small international groups, each organizing a separate activity which may range from field observations of a particular bird to organizing an educational activity about nature or interviewing Georgian citizens about their relation to nature or birds.

We hope that by following in the wake of migratory birds we can truly make a bridge across national and cultural borders between conservationists. Only by thinking globally can we organize meaningful local activities. Collaborating across borders is an essential component of such an approach, and therefore throughout this project we will conduct several cultural activities including culinary evenings and visits to cultural heritage in the vicinity of Batumi.

This project is organized in collaboration with young and dedicated nature enthusiasts from JNM (Belgium), Young Biologists Association (Armenia) and Kuzeydoga (Turkey).